Premiering nationwide this Friday, The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain, is a socially conscious drama thriller based on the true story of a case that Elisabeth Haub School of Law Professors Randolph McLaughlin and Debra Cohen have worked on for ten years. The law school is located in White Plains, the very city where the dramatic events took place.
In 2011, Kenneth Chamberlain Sr., an elderly African American veteran with bipolar disorder, was killed during a conflict with police officers dispatched to check on him after his medical alert device was mistakenly activated. The film recounts the excessive and brutal force executed by the police in their response to this non-threatening situation and provides a lens for society to reflect on the reform needed in policing tactics and our social justice system.
鶹ýThis film is a tremendous opportunity to help not only bring the case into national focus, but to highlight the important issues 鶹ý how police respond to aided calls versus criminal calls, how they police in African-American communities, and how they are trained to diffuse situations involving people in mental health crisis,鶹ý said Professor McLaughlin. 鶹ýWhat was done was a text book 鶹ýnot to do鶹ý if their intention was to de-escalate the situation and provide assistance.鶹ý
According to McLaughlin, when the police arrived, Mr. Chamberlain was asleep in his bed and made more than 60 attempts over the course of an hour and twenty minutes to explain that he did not call for help, did not need help and did not want to open his door. 鶹ýWhen we heard the audio recording, we were shocked at the inhumanity demonstrated by law enforcement,鶹ý said Adjunct Professor Cohen. 鶹ýMr. Chamberlain had no agency over his own fate.鶹ý
The husband and wife legal team of McLaughlin and Cohen co-chair the Civil Rights Practice Group of Newman Ferrara LLP in Manhattan. They were asked to join the case by colleagues and fellow Haub Law alumni Mayo Bartlett and Wali Muhammad in 2012. A $21 million civil rights lawsuit was filed in federal court against the City of White Plains and several police officers.
The couple were compelled by the outrageous circumstances of the case and the resolve of Kenneth Chamberlain, Jr. to find the truth about his father鶹ýs death. 鶹ýKenneth has channeled his anger and grief into creating a movement to reform police practices and provide other families with the support they need,鶹ý said Cohen. 鶹ýI thought of my own father at that age who had cognitive challenges, and what that would have been like. I was certain he wouldn鶹ýt have been treated the same in this situation.鶹ý
The legal fight for justice has spanned over the past ten years, with a case currently still pending in federal district court in White Plains. Less than one year into legal proceedings, a grand jury declined to vote for an indictment, causing an uproar in the community and among social justice advocates. Another letdown came in 2017 when the district court dismissed most of the claims contained in a new lawsuit and excused several of the original defendants, including police officers. Following four-years of pre-trial motions, in 2020, the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, restored claims of unlawful entry and non-lethal excessive force. Professors McLaughlin and Cohen are now preparing, with the legal team, for trial and hope that with the need for police reform gaining traction across the country, justice for Mr. Chamberlain Sr. can finally be achieved.
鶹ýNo matter how hard you work as a lawyer it鶹ýs almost impossible to convey a victim鶹ýs point of view when a voice can鶹ýt be heard and they can鶹ýt testify for themselves,鶹ý added Cohen. 鶹ýThis film shows us the perspective of the man who is on the other side of the door and gives him a voice that we hope can inspire change.鶹ý
The film, which will be available , was produced and directed by David Midell, along with acclaimed actor, director and producer Morgan Freeman as an executive producer. Actor Frankie Faison plays Mr. Chamberlain Sr. in the film, which won the jury and audience awards at the 2019 Austin Film Festival where it debuted. Visit the Killing of Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain for more information.
鶹ý鶹ýs Elisabeth Haub School of Law offers J.D. and Masters of Law degrees in both Environmental and International Law, as well as a Doctor of Juridical Science (SJD) in Environmental Law. The school, housed on the University鶹ýs campus in White Plains, NY, opened its doors in 1976 and has over 9,000 alumni around the world. The school maintains a unique philosophy and approach to legal education that strikes an important balance between practice and theory. Haub Law launched its Environmental Law Program in 1978, and it has long been ranked among the world鶹ýs leading university programs, with a current #1 ranking by U.S. World and News Report.
The Elisabeth Haub School of Law at 鶹ý is proud to announce that Margot Pollans, Professor of Law at Pace Haub Law and Noa Ben-Asher, Professor of Law at St. John鶹ýs University School of Law have been selected as 2025 Dukeminier Awards Winners for their article, , 2024 Utah L. Rev. 763 (2024).
Professor Margot Pollans joined the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at 鶹ý faculty in 2015. She is the Faculty Director of the Pace Food Law Center, the Joseph P. D鶹ýAlessandro Faculty Scholar, and also served as the James D. Hopkins Professor of Law for the 2023鶹ý2025 academic years. Previously, she served as the Shamik and Adrienne Trivedi Faculty Scholar from 2020鶹ý2022. During her time at the Law School, she has been a leader in building the national reputation of the Pace Food Law Center. Professor Pollans is an accomplished scholar whose primary research interests lie in the areas of food and agriculture law, environmental law, administrative law, and social justice and her academic work has appeared in a variety of prestigious journals.
Over the course of three days, the Environmental Law Collaborative (ELC) convened in Briarcliff Manor, New York to discuss 鶹ýBlue Sky Thinking in a Red Sky World.鶹ý The ELC comprises a rotating group of law professors who assemble every other year to think, discuss, and write on an important and intriguing theme in environmental law. This year, the group focused on how to think optimistically and proactively about environmental protection when so much is going so quickly in the opposite direction.